Wednesday, 23 October 2013

It has been a very busy week adding the finishing touches to the inside of the house before the floor sanding commenced. The ducted airconditioning was installed, window and door furniture was added, powerpoints and lights were installed and the tiling was completed. Our kitchen island bench was also replaced with a correct sink cutout this time!

The ensuite tiles look amazing even though they are covered in dust from the floor sanding!

On Saturday afternoon I realised that the white subway tiles I had selected for the splashback were too stark. Not good news when the tiler was starting on Monday! So we made a quick dash to a couple of tile shops to select a new option. I was pleased to find a smaller, textured tile with more of an antique white finish. I cringed when the salesman mentioned 'handmade' and 'imported from Italy' but at this late stage it was our only option. Unfortunately the tile wasn't in stock but the lovely people at Meer Tile Market arranged for me to collect it directly from the supplier on Monday. Thankfully I was finishing work early and could fit in a drive to Ormeau! ﻿
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New tiles for the kitchen splashback.

﻿﻿﻿We are still waiting for our master bedroom and ensuite lights to be made and are having endless trouble with our ensuite benchtop. It seems there is no black or white Caesarstone in Australia until December and other suppliers are also out of stock! Anyway, we are pressing on with having the floors polished so that we can move in this weekend.

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The final sand completed and floors cleaned before polishing.

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Outside the house was also buzzing with activity as the painters moved on to the exterior and earthworks were completed in the front yard to allow for concreting our driveway and front porch.

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Framing completed for the garage door and entrance door.

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The rest of the week will involve polishing the floors, paint touch-ups, concreting the driveway, and the erection of the front and back stairs and then we move in on Saturday! The house won't be totally complete but it will be so good to be home!!!

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Are you ready for the good, the bad and the ugly this week? Firstly, the addition of the final mouldings and breezeways has the interior looking beautiful! The painters have started the huge task of prep work in the existing part of the house so I will definitely deliver more of their favourite baked treats this week!

Now brace yourself for the bad. I was initially excited to see work commence in the ensuite with the waterproofing being added but on closer inspection it appeared that our shower area was incorrect. Rather than sticking to the FC sheet area they continued waterproofing over the VJ sheeting. The waterstop angle where the shower screen is meant to meet the floor at 900x1500mm was fixed at 1000x1800mm! When I arrived on site the next morning I was relieved to see the waterproofers back on site rectifying the problem. Phew! Thankfully, our terrific builder was already onto it.

In fact, our builder is so impressive that our neighbour has commenced a renovation with him also! It has worked out well, allowing access to the small lot next door through our property and coordinating trades across both sites. This week they were concreting in the posts next door and did our back stairs landing at the same time.

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Now for the ugly. Demolition has begun downstairs! The garage door was removed and the existing front brick wall of the garage fell down quite easily.

Our new front wall will be set back under the house to allow for a front porch so the concrete cutter came to cut back the existing slab.

Removal of the verandah decking exposed some pretty sad looking joists that will need to be replaced. Ouch!

Our home is now sitting pretty on back propping waiting for the removal of the brick piers, some new steel beams, posts and floor joists.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

What a week! Big progress with painting and the kitchen this week and a very busy time as I returned to work on Monday. Now I am very much looking forward to moving back home and life returning to normal! So I'll keep this post brief and let the pictures speak for themselves.﻿

The painters starting adding colour to the front exterior.

The facade is looking better all the time!

The painters got busy on the interior walls of the kitchen, dining, lounge area.

Completing necessary painting before the installation of the kitchen and study nook.

The first rough sand was completed.

The new and old sanded floors in the hallway.

And wait for it...

The cabinet makers have started installing the study nook and kitchen.

Tuesday, 10 September 2013

The interior is starting to look complete with the addition of mouldings this week. 140mm skirting boards and 93mm architraves set off the windows and VJ walls beautifully in the extension area (kitchen, study, dining and lounge). The ceilings are 3.2m high so the picture rail breaks up the wall nicely and will act as a crown moulding above the kitchen and study cabinetry.

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We decided to remove the dado rail from the guest bedroom (as it was the only room in the house that had one) only to discover a split in the VJs. So new full length VJs will need to be installed. At least we were able to add insulation to the western wall in the process.

To allow the builders to finish the internal wall lining and mouldings we needed to purchase and install our wardrobe inserts for our main bedroom. The plan is to have one main clothing robe in the bedroom and a walk-through shoe and accessories robe between the bedroom and ensuite.

We decided to use the Pax and Komplement products from Ikea. They have a great online planner that allowed us to play with designs and create a product list before heading instore. This made processing our order at 6:15pm (45 minutes before closing) with two hungry and tired little people in tow very helpful indeed! We ended up with 45 boxes and Hubby M did an amazing job of getting them all into the back of the ute and into the house!
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The painters are still working their magic on the exterior of the house. The facade has been primed and is looking great. Not long now until the brick work disappears and work begins on the ground floor.

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

We have colour and couldn't be happier! We chose our paint colours back in 2010 when we purchased the house so it's a relief that we still love our selections. Like Family Home Number 2 we were keen to make a selection from the Colorbond range and we decided upon Evening Haze as our main wall colour and Monument for the gutters and sills. To help with the remaining selections we employed Dulux Colour Consultant, Suzanne Pike from Home and Office Revamps. These are the exterior colours we settled on:

We replaced the gutters in Colorbond Monument. Evening Haze has been painted on the chamfer boards and Natural White on the eaves. The ceilings will also be painted in Natural White. The facia, fretwork and railings are yet to be painted in Vivid White.

The plan is to paint the sills and handrails in Monument but we like the look of the white at the moment. What do you think? I'll share our interior colours soon.

In other news, the insulation and VJ ceilings have been installed on the deck and living room.

The ceilings on the verandah have also been insulated and lined and a couple of damaged posts replaced.

More chamfer boards were replaced on the western wall for a better integration with the existing boards. This was a bit of a bonus as we were able to add more insulation to Master H's bedroom wall which heats up in the afternoon.

Unfortunately it hasn't been all smiles this week. Despite previous advice from our certifier and town planner, Council is now insisting that we complete a Partial Demolition Application to put in our front door. This is particularly frustrating considering there is evidence that there was a front door in the original house and that our entrance door on the side verandah was originally a window based on the sill check outs in the frame. I'm all for protecting the integrity of character homes in demolition control precincts. Our whole renovation has been planned to restore the home, as much as possible, to its former glory. We are reinstating character features that had been removed. It's not like we're adding a skillion roof or glass balustrades! Anyway, more fees and time delays but my rant is over.

Monday, 19 August 2013

The house has been a hive of activity this week with more framing and cladding by the builders and the painters starting on site. We had a co-ordination meeting with the builder and cabinet maker to discuss the finer details of our kitchen and study. I'll have to share the plans with you in another post. I am so excited about this space! We also met the electrician on site to finalise our power and lighting plans. Meanwhile, I'm wishing Pottery Barn would start selling their lighting in Australia. It's very difficult to source the gorgeous lighting in the images I have pinned on Pinterest. And I'm not sure that I want the drama of importing and converting lights from the U.S.

I have been out and about visiting lighting stores and plumbing suppliers to confirm our selections. Having Master H and Miss O along for the trip always makes for an eventful visit! We still need to settle on tiles for the ensuite but I think I have had enough for one week!

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Painters have primed the timber doors and posts.

Flooring added ready for tiles in the ensuite
and pine flooring in the robe and retreat area.

Our old bedroom door removed and framed up
for the ensuite wall.

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Framing for the main wardrobe in our master bedroom.
A new doorway cut in the hallway wall.

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Framing for the guest bedroom.

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Master H's bedroom door will be repositioned
to the new hallway and a robe will be on this wall
of the guest bedroom.

The hallway framing extended into the living area.
The study cabinetry will be on the left and kitchen on the right.

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Chamfer boards added to the BBQ and bench area.
Battens added to the ceiling ready for VJ lining.

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More ceiling battens and the primed door and windows in the living area.

Welcome!

Welcome to our Family H.O.M.E. Toddler Master H, Baby Miss O, Hubby M and Mum E reside in an old Queenslander house in Brisbane. Join us on our journey of renovating and decorating our house plus all the joys of family life!